Development of a New Electronic Measure of Pediatric Pain: A Pilot Study

Official Title ICMJE

Development of a New Electronic Measure of Pediatric Pain: A Pilot Study

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to test the accuracy of a computer-based program to self-report the location and intensity of a child's pain in comparison to a traditional self-report paper and pencil measure and physician physical exam. Using a computer to assess pediatric pain may offer many advantages and improvements in how pediatric pain is diagnosed and treated.

Detailed Description

Approximately 1 in 4 children aged 5-18 report experiencing pain. As many as 2 in 3 of these children will develop a significant physical, emotional, social or academic impairment. Recent research has identified pediatric pain as an area where biological, psychological and social treatments can interact to provide substantial changes in pain symptoms. However, there is a lamentable dearth of empirical studies evaluating the efficacy of treatments for chronic pain in children. These findings necessitate more intensive efforts to improve methods on initial assessment and treatment, but an important first step is to improve the sensitivity of outcome evaluation.

Existing measures of pediatric pain have been concerned with symptom intensity and the general locus of pain. Children are traditionally asked to mark with a number or a color the region in which they experience pain. This is helpful for understanding generality that a large area such as the head, joints, or stomach hurts. However, it does not allow the child the option to specify a narrow area of discomfort within a broader region (e.g., upper right quadrant of the stomach). Consequently, current pain instruments may lead to an inaccurate or imprecise understanding of a child's pain, which can adversely impact clinical care of the quality of clinical trials.

The current study will compare a widely used paper-based "pain mapping" tool to a new electronic tool designed by study investigators to capture the same information as the paper measure, while adding more precision regarding pain regions and greater range in terms of pain intensity. We expect that children's responses on these two measures (pencil/paper and electronic) will be generally similar, but we expect that the electronic measure will map more closely onto the Attending Physician's notes regarding discrete pain location, intensity, and/or diagnosis.

Study Type ICMJE

Observational

Study Design ICMJE

Observational Model: CohortTime Perspective: Prospective

Target Follow-Up Duration

Not Provided

Biospecimen

Not Provided

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Presentation to either Abdominal Pain Clinic or Integrative Pain Management Clinic. A total of ten patients from each clinic, five (5) aged 8-12 and five (5) aged 13-17.

Condition ICMJE

Pediatric Pain

Intervention ICMJE

Not Provided

Study Group/Cohort (s)

Pediatric Pain

Children between the ages of 8 and 17 experiencing pain.

Publications *

Not Provided

* Includes publications given by the data provider as well as publications
identified by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number) in Medline.

Recruitment Information

Recruitment Status ICMJE

Completed

Enrollment ICMJE

20

Completion Date

July 2009

Primary Completion Date

June 2009 (final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Eligibility Criteria ICMJE

Inclusion Criteria:

Presentation to either APC Clinic or IPM Clinic.

Child participant is 8-17 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

Child/parent not English speaking.

Child unable to see computer screen or interact with the keyboard or mouse.

Parent/child unable or unwilling to provide permission/assent.

Gender

Both

Ages

8 Years to 17 Years

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Contacts ICMJE

Contact information is only displayed when the study is recruiting subjects